The past few years have presented me with situations in which it has been extremely easy for me to become bitter and angry, yet every day I got up, put a smile on my face and made the best of every difficulty that came my way.

In the span of two years, my parents divorced, my papaw died and I to moved to a different state. My life was turned completely upside down. I went through a phase of feeling bad for myself and I complained about EVERYTHING. Eventually, the negativity got the best of me and it was hard for my friends and family to be around me. Then, one day, I had a change of mind. I decided that my life wasn't going to get any better by being negative, so I made up my mind to tackle every day with a positive attitude.

In today's society, optimism is rare — but optimism is a trait that should become more common, judging by Winston Churchill's famous quote that "a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Pessimism, by definition, is a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. Now that I have had a change of mind, I choose to see the best of every opportunity. I have trouble understanding how a person could go through life never being happy, always having something to complain about.

It is common to find people with a pessimistic outlook on life considering the amount of tragedy that is happening throughout the world. A friend of mine has a very negative outlook on life, no matter what is happening, his glass is always half empty. The effect that it has on him and the people around him is evident everywhere you look. He constantly is unhappy and making the people unhappy around him also because of the constant whining.

Happiness is a choice, always will be. The moment you change the way you view life your life suddenly become brighter and more opportunities will come your way. Your friends and family will enjoy spending time with you and you will always feel like it's a great day to be alive.